The Nordic Investment Bank (NIB) and the Nordic Environment Finance Corporation (NEFCO) have signed a loan agreement totalling EUR 30 million for the renovation of university buildings in Ukraine for better energy efficiency and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The project of energy efficiency improvements in higher education institutions in Ukraine with costs estimated at EUR 160 million includes the renovation of university buildings in several cities. Improvements will be made in the building envelopes, heating and ventilation systems as well as lighting. The improvements are expected to expand the lifecycle of the buildings on average by 30 years and help reduce costs.

The initial phase of the project will involve seven universities in Kharkiv, Kiev, Lviv, Poltava, Chernihiv, Sumy and Vinnytsia. Later in the programme, more universities will be selected for building renovations. The work is expected to start in 2018 and be completed by the end of 2022.

“Financing the energy efficiency project for Ukrainian universities is in line with the green pillar of NIB’s mandate. The project will affect the work and study conditions for thousands of people, and we hope it will also have a substantial positive impact on the local economies in those regions where the participating universities are located”, says Henrik Normann, NIB President & CEO.

“The project is of national scale and importance and it is expected to improve the cost efficiency of the universities by reducing energy consumption and thus enabling the universities to direct the scarce resources to their core activities” says Magnus Rystedt, NEFCO Managing Director.

With the funding from NIB NEFCO extends a loan to the Government of Ukraine represented by the Ministry of Finance (read NEFCO's press release). NEFCO’s loan to Ukraine is partially guaranteed by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency. The lead financier of the project is the European Investment Bank. In addition to the loan financing, the project will receive grants from the Eastern Europe Energy Efficiency and Environment Partnership (E5P), the EU Neighbourhood Investment Facility and the Nordic Environmental Development Fund.

NEFCO is an international financial institution owned by the Nordic countries Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. NEFCO finances green growth investments with focus on Eastern Europe for the purpose of generating positive environmental effects of particular interest to the Nordic region.

NIB is an international financial institution owned by eight member countries: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden. The Bank finances private and public projects in and outside the member countries. NIB has the highest possible credit rating, AAA/Aaa, with the leading rating agencies Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s.